judge order closed dakota access pipeline pending reviews
A federal judge sided with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on Monday and ordered the Dakota Access pipeline closed until more environmental reviews were conducted.
A federal judge has ruled that the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline should be evacuated for now, while the US Army Corps of Engineers produces an environmental review.
In a ruling posted on Monday, US District Judge James Boasberg said it was clear that the closure of the pipeline would cause disruption. But he said that the severity of core deficiencies precipitates the negative effects of stopping the flow of oil during the estimated 13 months the environmental impact statement would have to be completed.
In a 24-page order, US District Judge James Boasberg wrote that he was mindful of the disintegration that a pipeline running for three years would have caused the closure, but it must be done within 30 days. His order said in April that the pipeline remains highly controversial under federal environmental law, and that a more comprehensive review was necessary than what was assessed.
"Clear precedent favoring vacatur during such a remand coupled with the seriousness of the Corps' deficiencies outweighs the negative effects of halting the oil flow for the thirteen months that the Corps believes the creation of an EIS will take," Boasberg wrote Monday.
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation lies beneath the pipeline, have been fighting against its construction for years.
Boasberg had ordered both parties to submit briefs on whether the pipeline should continue operating during the new environmental review.
The pipeline was the subject of months of protests, sometimes violent, during its construction near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The Standing Rock tribe presses litigation against the pipeline even after it began carrying oil from North Dakota across South Dakota and Iowa and to a shipping point in Illinois in June 2017.
Jan Hasselman, an attorney for the Standing Rock tribe, tweeted news of Boasberg's ruling and said: "Stunning."
Texas-based Energy Transfer, the pipeline owner, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The $ 3.8 billion, 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) underground pipeline lies beneath the Missouri River, north of the Standing Rock Reservation. The tribe draws its water from the river and is afraid of pollution. Energy Transfer insisted that the pipeline be safe.
Boasberg, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the Corps in March to conduct a full environmental impact analysis. He said that the Corps had made a "highly controversial" decision in approving federal permits for the project. Among other things, he said the Corps had failed to answer major questions about the risks of oil spills.
A spokesperson for Energy Transfer Partners did not immediately answer questions. The company's board of directors includes former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and its CEO Kelsey Warren has been a supporter of President Donald Trump.
